A Certain Type of Bravery
by heyyrobyn
Summary: Dating James Potter takes a lot of bravery... Whether you're willing to admit it or not.


_A Certain Type of Bravery_

The wind was blowing and the leaves were changing, it was just a beautiful time of year. As the Marauders made their way back to the school from Hogsmeade, they couldn't help but take in that crisp fall air. For the first time in awhile, the boys were just calm, cool and collected. They didn't have any pranks or shenanigans they were planning or initiating. For another first, three of the boys noticed a certain redhead before James did.

"So mate," Sirius started, "How are you coming along with Evans?"

James grinned a s son as the girl was brought up, "Oh, things are going well I'd say. She's not yelled at me or anything in a while. Some eye contact was made a few times as well." The other boys shook their head slightly in amusement. James was completely head over heels for Lily Evans and as much as she'd like to deny it, Lily Evans was head over heels for James Potter. When James looked up and spotted the redhead, his pace quickened.

"Uh, should you really be bothering her today?" Remus questioned, "She didn't look too pleased this morning."

"She smiled at me though. She was happy this morning." James replied. He caught up to Lily and her friends, Alice and Marlene.

"Is it just me or are the font sizes in the Prophet getting smaller and smaller?" Lily asked and her two friends laughed. When Alice and Marlene noticed James, they separated from Lily just a tad and he walked alongside her.

"Here, try these Evans." James said as he took off his glasses and handed them to her.

She looked at them for a moment with a raised eyebrow, "Oh? Are we playing pretend?"

He grinned, "If you wish."

Lily took the glasses and placed them carefully on her head, "Oi, I'm James Potter and I shag girls left and right because I don't care about anyone." she said with the Prophet in one hand and pretended to take a drag from a cigarette with the other. James looked away from her, holding back a sigh. An awkward silence lingered for a beat before she looked over at him, "I'm sorry Potter."

James shook his head, "You know that's not true Lily. You know that I care about someone."

"That's a right shocker."

"Lily. Why don't you even want to give me a chance? I'm not some kind of monster that you make me out to be."

"Really James? Really? Because every time you ever start seeing a girl, you treat her nicely until you're able to get in her knickers and then you throw her away like someone's garbage."

He scoffed, "Yeah right."

"No," Lily stated, "You do. That's exactly what you do. Why would I subject myself to being treated that way?"

By this time, the other three Marauders had caught up and seeing that a fight was about to ensue soon, they quickly got on either side of James, ready to defend James if he needed it. However, they noticed that this time, they couldn't really defend him... He was in the wrong this time. What Lily had observed was exactly what she was voicing right now.

James turned around and looked at his friends, "I do not. You must have me confused with Padfoot."

"Uh, mate..." Sirius interjected, "I may do that, but you do too."

Looking at his friend for a moment he shook his head, "No!" Lily folded up her copy of the Daily Prophet and looked at him expectedly, "Yes." she said sternly.

Standing silently, he ran a hand through his hair and huffed, "But, I don't. And besides, if I do, I wouldn't treat you like that."

"I'm sorry to tell you that I am not brave enough to take that chance." she replied before she walked away towards the school. Marlene and Alice looked at James for a moment, giving him a "told-you-so" look, and then following after Lily.

The marauders watched the three girls leave, Remus, Sirius, and Peter at a loss for words to what to tell James. James looked at his friends for a moment, "What the bloody hell?"

"Alright mate, just calm down." Remus replied, "They're girls. They'll change their minds soon enough." The four boys walked back to the castle without another word.

When time passes, people have the tendency to change as they grow older. Some people change their outlooks on life, some change their physical appearance, and some change everything about themselves. There are other times, however, when nothing changes. In those instances, sometimes only a light has been shown on a particular subject. Lily Evans walked towards that maverick, James Potter, this time without that look of malice. She'd only seen that look on him one time before, but it wasn't anything different than the looks he normally gave her. People were crowded around for a new reason, no longer to hear them bicker. When she took that last step to be on the same plane as he was, he nudged her shoulder lightly, "You sure you're brave enough?" he whispered.

The two turned to Dumbledore to get the formality of the ceremony completed. She never would have thought she'd see this day. He never thought he'd see it either. It took him so long to just grab her and now that he had her, he'd never let her go. Lily couldn't help but smile at him brightly, "I don't know. Looks like we're going to find out."


End file.
